To All Members of TheChocolateLife:

I was thinking this morning about the ways in which the ChocolateLife community might be able to aid in Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. And not just aid ChocolateLife members who make their livings making chocolate, but also people whose lives have been been tossed upside down and inside out who are in need of assistance.

After all, I know that there are ChocolateLife members up and down the East Coast that were within the path of the storm and many of them had to be affected one way or another - and right during the busiest time of the year. While I was not too terribly affected by Sandy, many people in my community were: I am right on Long Island Sound near the New York/Connecticut border. I have neighbors and friends who have suffered damage and bodily harm and who are still without power and other basic services.

I was happy, then, to be contacted by Renee Rohrbach and Ricky Sanders of Madison West Chocolatiers, in New Jersey, who let me know that they have started an on-line fundraiser (don't forget to "like" this page if you have a Facebook account) and they will donate all of the proceeds from sales to two beneficiaries near them in New Jersey: The Salvation Army and to a local fiery food producer (Ed Buchholtz of Born to Hula Hot Sauce) who suffered significant damage to home and business in the storm. Renee let me know that they did not survive the hurricane unscathed, but want to do something to help.

Here's how it works:

1) Go to the Madison West Chocolatiers Facebook store on or before November 16th.

2) Purchase any one or more of the following three items at the wholesale price ( the listed price is the wholesale price and each of the bars serves 6-10 people, usually) on or before November 16th for delivery by Thanksgiving:

-- Pumpkin Spice Bar
-- Raspberry Truffle Bar
-- Shooting Star Bar (ganache is made with a hybrid Ghost/Scorpion pepper - very hot!)

There is no direct link to each product on the catalog page. Scroll down to the bottom of the store where the items are listed, or search using your browser's in-page text search feature.

3) 95% of the proceeds of each sale (which Renee tells me is the difference between cost of manufacture and wholesale price) will be donated to the designated recipients . The proceeds from the Pumpkin Spice and Raspberry bars will go to the Salvation Army and the proceeds from the Shooting Star bar will go to Ed Bucholtz.

4) Tweet the following link to this page, along with your own message using the #chocolate hashtag and @DiscoverChoc handle to spread the message far and wide: http://goo.gl/7qEtn

Note) Purchases do not count as tax-deductible contributions.

WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO

A) If you, or someone you know, is offering a chocolate-related Hurricane Sandy relief special, please add the details as a comment to this page. (That's why I want you to tweet the link to this page, so people can be informed of special offers members of the chocolate community, not just the ChocolateLife community, are making to aid Sandy relief efforts.

B) Don't just buy for yourself, buy early holiday gifts for friends and family.

C) Add Hurricane Sandy chocolate to your Thanksgiving menu and reflect on the gift of chocolate and the gift of community on Thanksgiving day.

Thank you all,
:: Clay